Look, we want you to express yourself, okay?

The number on Kesha Rose Sebert’s waitressing time card is 420. The restaurant where she works is called Awful House. The furry-filled, avocado-colored ’70s hippie van Ke$ha drives off in a little ways into her new “C’mon” video has one of those Super Mario Bros. 3 raccoon tails (and corresponding ears).

When “C’mon” first surfaced last November, still fresh off expectations raised by Three Stacks guest spots, disarming Dylan interpretations, and club-escaping reference points (Iggy’s The Idiot!), we kvetched a bit about how it mostly just watered down Ke$ha’s old shtick. Yeah, yeah, “warm Budweiser” is no “bottle of Jack.” And that song title? C’mon! But like most tracks on the pop hellraiser’s Warrior, “C’mon” only sounds better once it burrows its way into your synapses. Somewhere in there must be why they call the producer “Dr.” Luke.

The visuals, as you might’ve guessed, show a much greater attention to slightly off-kilter detail, and they make for an exciting ride. Like the Beatles’ “I Am the Walrus” in the Magical Mystery Tour film or, more recently, Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” video, Ke$ha finds herself in a surreal setting partying with a gang of people in animal costumes. She’s quit her job at Awful House, but then she and her newfound pals return to show all the clientele how to have a good time, interspersed with superfluous hot-tub shots and amusing motorcycle footage. Y’know, ’cause she’s living for the moment and stuff.

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Alessandro Cortini tends to surround himself with darkness. The Italian producer is most infamous as a torturer of modular synths and other bleak electronics for Los Angeles’ most famous industrial-goths, Nine Inch Nails. His previous solo LP, Sonno, slinked out on Prurient’s Hospital Productions — a bastion of the crepuscular, if there ever was one. And… More »